Lathrop

This is my last column for C-VILLE, and it has been an indescribable pleasure to talk to so many musicians, bands, club owners and people on the local music scene. I want to say thanks to my editor, Cathy Harding, who took a chance on publishing that first On The Record

It has been 15 years now that Dave Matthews came out from behind the bar at Miller’s and assembled the band that got struck by lightning. As they take to the road—their annual summer ritual—see if you remember whom the boys in the band were playing with when they formed DMB. Probably any fan can […]

The other night at Saxx, I overheard a guy shouting at his friend, “This is the first time I’ve been in here. This place is really unbelievable. Normally I would only tell my closest friends that it is here.” Imagine owning a place so good, that your patrons want to keep it secret. Saxx you […]

Local band Under The Flood gets an upstairs appearance at Starr Hill this month, and lead singer Dave Nadolski offers up some advice for up-and-coming bands on how to get there. “If I had one piece of advice to give, I’d say get good management. You’ve got to know people. If you don’t know anyone, […]

Do you know Tom House’s music? Local singer/songwriter Keith Morris thinks that you ought to, and he is offering to do something about it. “I don’t want to get all hyperbolic on you, but I feel kind of like we’re recognizing Van Gogh while he’s still alive, you know?” Poet-turned-songwriter House released his first CD […]

Ever fantasize about quitting your office job, leaving town and moving to the beaches of Brazil? Madeline Holly Sales did it. Speaking only Spanish, she lived there for three years, studied music and toured with a band. “You begin by covering styles, but then you make the music your own,” says bossa nova and samba […]

High school graduation is right around the corner. And you can imagine that many students are going to be happy to be done with school, but I think there are some high school musicians who are going to miss their good thing: The Albemarle High School Jazz Band. I recently caught the AHS Jazz Band […]

Dave Kannensohn was about to schedule a gig for May 4th when his musical partner, guitarist Peter Richardson, said, “Maybe you better leave that date open.” That’s because Richardson and drummer Drex Weaver had already made some plans to celebrate Kannensohn’s 92nd birthday. The festivities will be held at Saxx on Friday, May 4th, where […]

Springtime is a time of birth and renewal. When goats kid and horses foal. It is also the time of year when new CDs start popping up around town. And like children, CDs always have interesting stories of gestation and labor. They closely resemble you. You can love them and hate them at the same […]

Albemarle High School sophomore Ryan Grant does not drink alcohol, smoke dope or have promiscuous sex. And his decision to live that straight-edge life has been inspired by music—good loud, fast, hard music.

Walk into Stacy’s Music Shop in Rio Hill Shopping Center and you will see a shop full of guitars and drums, and hear the tapping of an aspiring drummer getting a lesson in the back. But you will also see many photos on the wall of a Charlottesville era long past. Shep Stacy’s grandfather, Carl […]

The members of the Free Bridge Quintet are well known by jazz fans around town. The band is made up of the much-esteemed players from the McIntire Department of Music’s jazz quintet-in-residence. But if you have never been out to hear one of their fine performances at Cabell Hall, you can catch the Quintet this […]

You got to give it to Jon Thompson. Dreaming Isabelle’s lead guitarist and singer goes after what he wants. He was a walk-on from Wise High School to the UVA football team and got to play linebacker alongside Darryl Blackstock and Aaron Brooks.

If you caught the Beetnix show at Starr Hill last weekend, you got to see an opener who is very much affiliated with the group. The Supreme Council features turntablist DJ B-Easy, and rappers Scheem and Anonamys.

Joe Garnett grew up here in town, and he played music with bassist Steve Riggs in junior high school. He took time off from playing the drums later in life, but he worked as a woodworker, and five years ago he decided to experiment making a set of drums. Joe Garnett builds drums only as […]

Dave Matthews’ place behind the bar at Miller’s is not the only draw for musicians to Charlottesville. In 2003, rocker Zaba Grace (www.zabagrace.com) moved here from Toledo, Ohio, to work with sometime DMB engineer Chris Kress. Grace credits Debbie Gibson as an influence. “I dreamed when I was 12 of putting something together that sounded […]

I once played in a band where members lived in Virginia, Baltimore and New Orleans. The long distance relationship may be hard, but it can be done. Adam Smith of Truman Sparks (www.myspace.com/trmnsprx) has been figuring out where he wants to live. He recently checked out Philadelphia, where former locals The Extraordinaires have found a […]

In 1957, UVA engineering student Rowland Johnson spent part of his honeymoon delivering, in a rented truck and with the help of his groomsmen, a four-ton World War II Navy surplus radio transmitter from Washington D.C. to Charlottesville. That sort of dedication is exactly what has sustained volunteer radio at WTJU (www.wtju.radio.virginia.edu) for the last […]

Lots of great out-of-town bands will stop in town in the next couple weeks, with Yo La Tengo (www.yolatengo.com) and Jonathan Richman at Starr Hill, as well as SH presenting Jeff Tweedy (www.wilcoworld.net) at The Paramount Theater. MV and EE can sound like the Flaming Lips or the Velvet Underground or just their own bad-ass […]

Yo La Tengo has been through town a number of times now since the late 1980s, and for one member, James McNew, the upcoming Charlottesville gig is a sort of homecoming. Did The University bring him here, I asked? “Oh God, no!”

If the first week of 2007 has given you the blues, you are in luck. Eli Cook (www.elicook.com) and his trio will release their new CD, Electric Holy Fire Water, on January 27 at Uncle Charlie’s in Crozet. The disc was recorded at Sound of Music in Richmond, and Cook says that Richmond-based metal band […]

“Slate Hill” Phil Gianniny seemed like a fixture busking on the Downtown Mall. A couple of weekends ago, in his usual spot in front of The Paramount Theater, there was a poinsettia and a note that said, “We love you Phil.” Gianniny died on December 23 at the age of 31, and the turnout at […]

music It was the first time in a long time that felt like the presence of a “scene,” like Trax ’92 or The Hogwallers ’99. The Sons of Bill, who played their first ever gig one year ago opening for Monticello Road, used the holidays to their advantage for their anniversary show at Starr Hill […]